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This week we look at surges of violence in Haiti, Ecuador and Mexico, where struggles for territorial and market supremacy by criminal groups is pushing governments to respond with force. But can they regain control?
Transcript
This week’s On the Radar looks at how struggles for control are pushing the boundaries of violence in Haiti, Ecuador and Mexico.
First, in Haiti, what was supposed to be a fragile truce has given way to another spasm of violence in Port-au-Prince. At least 49 people were killed in clashes involving Viv Ansanm, the gang coalition tightening its grip there.
As violence spiked, another plane carrying 230 Kenyan officers touched down, bringing the foreign-backed Gang Suppression Force close to a thousand personnel now. The chances that outside forces can steady a city whose center of gravity has shifted to armed groups seem low.
In Ecuador, the Sao Box gang allegedly detonated a bomb outside the Machala prison — and then suffocated 13 members of the Lobos criminal group inside.
The scene is grimly familiar: the same facility saw at least 27 inmates killed the same way in November. Ecuador’s prison violence isn’t just recurring — it’s metastasizing.
And in Mexico, a car bomb in Michoacán killed at least five people outside a community police base. Authorities say the CJNG was behind the attack, which came as the government pushes its “Plan Michoacán,” launched after the assassination of Uruapan’s mayor last month. But every new blast feels like a reminder that the state and the CJNG are now locked in a dangerous contest of escalation.
The blast is a reminder that the state and the Jalisco Cartel are locked in what feels like a dangerous contest of escalation.
Governments across the region are responding to the fight for control in capitals, prisons, and contested territories with force, foreign backing, and new operations. But whether those moves can overcome increasingly violent criminal governance—when they haven’t in the past- looks unlikely.
That’s it from On the Radar this week -please check our archive for deep dives on the criminal groups and dynamics covered today. We’ll see you next week.